Buckeye Reporter

Despite winning four events Saturday and making a charge during the final night of the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Women's Swimming & Diving Championship, the Kenyon College Owls came up just short and landed the runner-up spot in the final team standings.

Denison, which overcame an early Kenyon lead on day one, wound up totaling 2,007 team points and held off the Owls, who finished second with 1,943.5 points. DePauw University held on to third place with 1,293.5 points, The College of Wooster was fourth with 1,126 points and Oberlin College rounded out the top-five in the eight-team event with 959 points.   

The Owls registered their first event victory of the evening in the 100-yard individual medley. Sophomore Jennah Fadely successfully defended her 2022 title by taking the top spot Saturday with a Kenyon record time of 55.70. That cleared out her previous record of 57.19 set one year ago. Sydney Buchman (58.72) and Celia Ford (58.83) tacked on fifth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively.

Kenyon rang up another win in the next event, as senior Olivia Smith completed the sweep of the NCAC Championship backstroke races. After winning the 100-yard version yesterday, Smith won the 200-yard race Saturday with a time of 2:00.39. Smith highlighted a top-three sweep for the Owls, as junior Caleigh Wukitch took second place in 2:02.68 and first-year Emma Kelley took third place in 2:04.84. The results pulled Kenyon within 58.5 points of front-running Denison.

Before those two Kenyon event victories, the Big Red opened Saturday's session with a win in the 1,650-yard freestyle. The Big Red took three of the top four spots and increased their advantage over the Owls to 97.5 points. Kenyon's top finisher was first-year Molly Haag. She completed the distance test in 16:56.83, which was a personal best. Not far behind her was junior Sarah Hoffman, who clocked in with a personal-best time of 17:04.08 for fifth place.

Later, following Kenyon's back-to-back wins, Denison gained the top spot in the 100-yard freestyle and placed three other swimmers in the top seven to add five more points to its team lead over the Owls. Kenyon countered with a second-place finish from senior Alexandra White, who touched in 50.57. First-year Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault was third in 51.29 and sophomore Sydney Geboy was sixth, stopping the clock at 51.92.

The Owls then made a move in the 200-yard breaststroke, drawing closer to the Big Red than they had been since early in day two. Sophomore Gabrielle Wei defended her title in the event, clocking in at 2:15.05 after posting a winning time of 2:15.09 last season. Juniors Sydney McCallie and Buchman produced fourth- and fifth-place showings behind Wei. McCallie completed the race in 2:22.47 and Buchman finished in 2:23.44. With two events left, that helped Kenyon move within 32.5 points of Denison.

In the 200-yard butterfly, the Owls recorded yet another defense. Ania Axas, a senior, won the title for the second straight season by whipping up a personal best time of 2:02.06. Sophomore Jordan Herrera took third in 2:05.33, also a personal best. Denison retaliated with swimmers in second, fourth, and fifth place to extend its team lead back out to 55.5 points.

The night, and the championship, finished off with the 400-yard freestyle relay, an event in which Denison squeaked out one final victory. The Big Red team clocked in at 3:23.05, just edging Kenyon's team which hit the wall in 3:23.12. The Owls' foursome included Torrecillas-Jouault, Geboy, Fadely and White.

Following the final results, it was announced that Fadely was voted the NCAC Swimmer of the Year. Throughout the meet, Fadely won the 100- and 200-yard individual medley races, and also the 100-yard breaststroke. She also swam legs on the Owls' winning 200- and 400-yard medley relay teams. 

Original source can be found here.